Tag: europe

This will be my third time starting a new life in a new city, first time abroad. Being born and raised in Toronto, the first time I moved out of my parents house was to Banff, Alberta in 2009. It was definitely different, coming from a big city to a small town, a little too small for my liking. After the ski season, I decided that I wanted to move back to a city but still be surrounded by nature and what a better place to do it than Vancouver, BC! After a couple of years, I decided to move back to Toronto (don’t ask me why). I’ve been here since 2012, getting caught up in the life I thought I left behind when I moved out West. It’s amazing how much of an effect your environment can have on you. Thankfully, I’m going back on the road, this time to London, UK. It will be interesting living in a city a lot bigger than Toronto, since Toronto is the biggest city I’ve lived in. I visited London last month for two weeks and it is a very interesting city to say the least.

Like any metropolitan city, it is very lively to say the least. It is a very busy city and there is always something going on. From their many outdoor and indoor markets to the pub scene, museums and plays, you can always find something to do in London. Whatever you decide to do, the transit system makes everything easily accessible. One of things that stood out to me on my trip to London was the food. The vast majority of the food I tried was exceptionally delicious. Some of the cuisines I tried were: Korean, Thai, Italian, English, Greek, just to name a few.

With bigger cities, come higher cost of living and London was no different. I thought that living in Vancouver was expensive, but London is just on another level. It is a world class city and you really pay the price for it. To give you an idea of how high the cost of living in London is, in my two weeks there, I paid close to £100 in transit alone, granted, I did a lot of travelling within the city. Rent isn’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination, even compared to the likes of Vancouver and Toronto, where the real estate bubble keepsgrowing.

Overall, I thought London was a cool city. Thankfully while I was there, I didn’t experience the infamous damp, gloomy, London weather, but having lived in Vancouver, I don’t expect it to be much different. I didn’t fall in love with the city instantly, hell, it wasn’t even close to the top of my list of travel destinations until I met a certain someone who ended up moving there. It definitely has it’s charm and I’m excited to learn and explore the city to a greater extent and eventually find my niche.